The Verge

Microsoft is providing an update on its support for Valve’s Steam Deck today. Most Xbox Game Studios titles will run on the Steam Deck, but Microsoft says Gears 5, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo Infinite, and Microsoft Flight Simulator X are unsupported. These titles don’t work on the Steam Deck due to anti-cheat systems, and it’s not clear if they’ll ever be supported in the future.Microsoft has marked eight games as “Verified,” and six more as “Playable.” The difference between the two can be something as small as a warning appearing or even having to invoke a virtual touchscreen to enter text during a game. While some are only on the playable list right now, they could soon progress to verified status.Microsoft’s list only... Continue reading…

Deals coming at you like goombas | Image: Nintendo March 10th is the unofficial holiday to celebrate all things Nintendo, and a variety of retailers are offering bargains on first-party Nintendo titles and some of the best accessories for the Nintendo Switch. While neither the Switch Lite nor OLED models of the Nintendo Switch are currently discounted, both models are readily available for late adopters or anyone who has been looking to upgrade from the classic Switch (in the case of the Switch OLED model).Games for the Nintendo Switch go on sale fairly regularly, but it's not often that we see substantial discounts on first-party titles, especially the digital versions. The discounts on most of these titles even extend to their Nintendo eShop listings, which will remain on sale until... Continue reading…

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft is making improvements to its Energy Saver mode on Xbox consoles. While Xbox owners have traditionally had to enable Standby mode to continue getting game and system updates while consoles are powered off, the Energy Saver mode will now support downloading updates in the background.“Now, system and game updates can be downloaded during Energy Saver mode, further saving energy,” explains Dave McCarthy, corporate vice president of Xbox operations. “Energy Saver mode consumes about 20 times less power than Standby mode when the console is not being used or receiving updates.”Microsoft has now made Energy Saver mode the default option when Xbox owners initially set up a console. The Energy Saver mode does mean it’s slower to... Continue reading…

It’s a PopSocket, but the size of a small battery bank. | Image: PopSockets PopSockets has a proposition: what if you could swap out the grip on your phone (which may or may not contain lip balm or a multitool) and stick on a battery bank with an integrated cable whenever you need to charge your phone and keep a solid grip on it? That seems to be the idea behind its new PopGrip JumpStart, a 2,200mAh battery (we’ll get to that number in a moment) that mounts onto the standard PopSocket mount and charges your phone with a pop-out USB-C or Lightning cable (via Gizmodo).It’s a clever idea, to be sure, but I have some... concerns. Standard PopSockets are comfy to use because they seem to be just the right size and shape. As you may have already guessed, though, the JumpStart is quite a bit bigger, given that it’s an... Continue reading…

Niantic’s Captain Doty mascot. | Image: Niantic Niantic is acquiring 8th Wall, a company that helps developers make web-based augmented reality apps, in what it says is its “largest acquisition to date.” The acquisition will help boost Niantic’s Lightship developer platform and to help developers “realize their visions for AR in the real-world metaverse,” Niantic’s Brian McClendon said in a blog post. (The company is a big fan of the term “real-world metaverse.”) Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and when asked, Niantic spokesperson Jen Stratton said the details were confidential.Niantic, the developer of the hugely popular Pokémon Go, has continued to push into AR, most recently with a Pikmin-themed app. But the company has had some misses, having shut down both Catan: Settlers... Continue reading…

Image: Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood will be the first US park with a Super Nintendo World when it opens its doors next year. Last year, the first Nintendo-style theme park made its debut at a Universal Studios location in Osaka, Japan, despite a number of delays and a global pandemic, and we’ve been waiting since the partnership was announced in 2015 to find out when there would be one in the US.Universal says Nintendo-themed merch will be available in its gift shop soon but didn’t go into much detail about what rides and experiences will be available at the US Super Nintendo World location. To get an idea of what’s in store, you can check out our experience in Japan’s park.

Image: The Verge It’s hard to be too disappointed by the iPhone SE. It’s cute, has great specs for the price, and now has 5G. It, along with the iPhone 13 Mini, fills that small phone niche for people with tiny hands. But as a big phone convert, I’m cheesed that the SE only comes in one size.A cheaper smartphone with a big screen isn’t a novel idea. There are plenty of them out there — but not if you’re on iOS. Right now, if iPhone users want a bigger-than-standard display, they have to turn their wallets inside out for the iPhone 13 Pro Max. If you get the cheapest configuration possible, you’re looking at dropping $1,099.When it came time to upgrade my phone last year, I hemmed and hawed between the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 and the 6.7-inch 12 Pro Max. I... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Valve shipped its $400 handheld gaming console, the Steam Deck, before all its promised features were ready — but one of the biggest is now here. You can now install Windows 10 on a Steam Deck and actually expect it to work because Valve has just released the all-important GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers you’ll need to download and play games.Importantly, you’ll need to wipe a Steam Deck to do this, there’s no dual-boot yet, and Valve says you can only install Windows 10 since the Steam Deck’s current BIOS apparently doesn’t include firmware TPM support (which Microsoft infamously requires for Windows 11).No speaker audio yetOh, and your speakers and headphone jack won’t work because there’s no audio drivers yet. Bluetooth or USB-C... Continue reading…

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy hasn’t been coy about how he plans to get the struggling fitness company back on course. A few weeks ago, McCarthy both quashed sale rumors and dangled the idea of shaking up Peloton’s subscription models. Now, Peloton says it’ll pilot a new subscription model called One Peloton Club in select states starting Friday.Under the new model, customers will pay a single $60–$100 monthly fee that covers renting the Bike and the cost of classes, according to a Wall Street Journal report. If the customer decides to cancel, Peloton will take back the bike free of charge. The pilot will be available in Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and Denver for a limited time. Customers will have to stop by a local showroom to sign up —... Continue reading…

Supernatural / Within Meta is making another big push for VR fitness. Starting in April, the company will make it possible to see your VR fitness stats from Oculus Move in more places instead of just within a VR app on the Quest and Quest 2 headset. You’ll be able to opt in to see metrics (calories burned, minutes spent working out, and your VR fitness goals) within the Oculus mobile app for iOS and Android.There’s slightly bigger news for iOS users who want all of their fitness data to go into one pot, so to speak: Oculus Move will support integration with Apple Health, so your VR workouts can be tracked in the same app as your standard, non-VR workouts. Meta says that it’s exploring integrations with additional fitness tracking platforms.Syncing your VR... Continue reading…

Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images The Biden administration is preparing to extend the mask mandate on airplanes and public transportation, according to multiple media accounts. The mandate, which was set to expire on March 18th, will be extended another month as officials continue to monitor the drop in COVID-19 cases across the country.Airplanes and public transportation are some of the last places where Americans are still required to wear masks. Most states have lifted their requirements for schools and other public places, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new guidelines say that masks aren’t necessary in areas with a low risk for transmission.The mask requirement for air travel and public transit will now extend to April 18thThe mask... Continue reading…

While many Android phones look like each other from farther away, the iPhone SE (2022) looks like many iPhones before it. | Image: Apple The new iPhone SE may look eerily familiar to anyone who has seen an iPhone in the last eight years, but as Apple has shown us with its budget line, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. The latest entry-level iPhone is set to come out on March 18th, with preorders going live on Friday, March 11th, and when it does it will be packing a beefy A15 Bionic processor and a slightly higher starting price of $429 with 64GB of storage. That’s the same processor found in the iPhone 13 line, making the SE nearly as capable as other current iPhones. But what if you’re not just shopping in Apple’s world? How does a “budget” iPhone compare to Android phones within a comparable range of value?First off, let’s get the most obvious determining factor... Continue reading…

As opening day for Overwatch League season 5 fast approaches, Blizzard is finally sharing more news on the progress of Overwatch 2. In a developer update, the Overwatch 2 team said closed alpha testing will begin today, with a closed beta to follow in April. The closed alpha will be open to a select group of people, including Overwatch League pros, while the closed beta will feature an expanded group of participants who can request access to the beta by signing up at PlayOverwatch.com, though you might want to wait a bit since the site is experiencing problems.Interestingly, neither the closed alpha nor beta will feature any PvE elements and will instead focus entirely on PvP. According to the Overwatch blog, “We are changing our... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has an enormous goal: the company wants to add another 100 million daily users by the end of 2023 — a growth of about 50 percent from where it is today. To do that, Twitter is going to need to add users at a far faster pace than it has in recent years, launching and iterating on new products and getting users to engage with the app more regularly.To that end, the company has continued to shake up its leadership and structure after appointing a new CEO, Parag Agrawal, in November. On Thursday, the company announced its latest changes, appointing three new consumer product leaders under the unit’s general manager, Kayvon Beykpour: Jay Sullivan, VP of consumer product, Arnaud Weber, VP of consumer product engineering, and Anita... Continue reading…

Facebook adds new tools for Groups to manage misinformation | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Facebook has added new features for Groups aimed at helping reduce the amount of misinformation shared among group members, parent company Meta announced. One of the options allows Group admins to auto-decline posts that third-party fact-checkers have determined contain false information so that the post isn’t shown to other members within the Group.This has been a big problem for Facebook; since many Groups are private, harmful or incorrect information can be spread quickly and with little oversight. Groups have been blamed for helping boost the visibility of COVID-19 misinformation and other conspiracy theories and for providing a place for bad actors to formulate plots to kidnap Michigan’s governor and coordinate parts of the January... Continue reading…

Illustration by Michelle Rohn / The Verge At age 70, the infamous attorney hasn’t changed his mind about violent video games Continue reading…

Rejoice, peasants! Your proletarian gadgets may live another year yet!I refer, of course, to the Mac Studio that Apple recently announced, which hits shelves March 18th. The company made a number of lofty claims about the device’s power and efficiency, using various charts that it did not label in any particularly useful way. Those are just claims until we get our hands on a unit — we’ll need to verify the metrics ourselves.But Apple also showed us pictures of the device. We’ve seen it. And there are two things we know for sure, without a doubt, that it has. Computer, enhance: Imagine the possibilities. Sure, there are some ports for Thunderbolt, Ethernet, whatever. But look at those two little rectangles to the l... Continue reading…

Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has passed in the Senate Continue reading…

Lego’s interactive Super Mario universe is getting even bigger today with the addition of a Lego Princess Peach starter kit, which adds the Mushroom Kingdom’s ruling royal to the ever-expanding array of modular sets.Like the addition of Lego Luigi last year, the Lego Princess Peach starter kit doesn’t make any major changes from the initial Lego Mario sets from 2020. The broad technology is still the same for all three characters, which uses a combination of an LCD display for animating each character’s facial expressions and a main screen on their chests and a sensor to scan barcodes and react to different colored Lego tiles. The Lego characters can also connect to a companion app over Bluetooth, as well as to each other for two-player... Continue reading…

Nicole Kelner takes climate data and turns it into calming watercolor visualizations. Nicole Kelner’s watercolors bring calm to images of climate change Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon Pharmacy is offering a prescription drug discount card to Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance customers in five states, Nworah Ayogu, chief medical officer for Amazon Pharmacy, said in an interview at a health technology conference this week.So far, the program includes partnerships with Blue Plans in New Jersey, Nebraska, Alabama, Florida, and Kansas.The partnership lets plan customers get discounts through a MedsYourWay card when they use Amazon Pharmacy to buy their medications — and the cost of those drugs still counts towards their insurance deductibles. Typically, people with prescription discount cards have to choose between buying a drug out-of-pocket with the discount but not having the cost go towards their deductible or... Continue reading…

The ports have won. After years of Apple’s USB-C experiments, the past few months have seen a decisive victory for the concept of “being able to plug things into your computer without a complicated array of dongles and adapters” — marked in particularly by the latest announcement of Apple’s new Mac Studio desktop.Not only does the new Mac Studio pack six USB-C ports — four of them full-fledged Thunderbolt 4 on the entry-level model and all six featuring Thunderbolt 4 support on the $3,999 M1 Ultra model — there’s a UHS-II SD card slot, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port, a headphone jack, and two USB-A ports. It’s a glut of ports that manages to outclass even the best proper, standalone Thunderbolt docks (the current reigning champ, the... Continue reading…

Illustration by James Bareham / The Verge The White House’s plan for digital asset regulation is here, and though the order doesn’t say much, cryptocurrency advocates are treating it as a win. Maybe that was inevitable, after a great deal of Twitter FUD (investor-speak for fear, uncertainty, doubt) about what the order would contain. The actual text, despite being a bit vague, is nonetheless a positive for the industry — not least because it gives everyone some time.Its approach sidelines cryptocurrency’s most dogged skepticsThere have been a few last-minute attempts to regulate cryptocurrency. There was, for instance, the time the Trump administration’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network attempted to push new proposed regulations over Christmas. (This was suspended.) There... Continue reading…

Image: Nvidia Nvidia is making its top GeForce Now RTX 3080 membership tier available on a monthly basis. The service, which uses RTX 3080-level hardware to stream games from Steam or Epic Games Store, will now be available for $19.99 per month. That means you can try out the top RTX 3080 tier for a month, instead of signing up to the service for six months.The RTX 3080 tier is one of the best streaming services available right now, thanks to its improved latency and support for raytracing and 120fps. You can stream at up to 1440p resolution with 120fps on PCs and Macs, and 4K HDR at 60fps on Nvidia’s Shield TV. Nvidia still continues to offer six-month memberships for $99.99, which works out to around $16.66 per month, or a saving of $19.95. ... Continue reading…

I’m looking at a mountain range projected on a wooden table. The mountain range isn’t part of a flashy game or art project. I can’t reach out and touch it like a real object. Thanks to some still-in-progress software optimization, it glitches a little when I move. And I’ll never purchase the high-end augmented reality headset that’s creating the illusion — the Magic Leap 2, set for launch later this year. But the scene is remarkable for an important reason: I can actually see all of it at once.Magic Leap was once known for its theatrics and huge promises, but the massively funded yet embattled startup has spent years trying to get back to Earth. It laid off a huge portion of its workforce and changed CEOs in 2020, scrapping its... Continue reading…

The YSL Rouge Sur Mesure can print up to 4,000 shades Continue reading…

Emoji reactions should now play more nicely between iOS and Android. | Image: Google We’ve known for months that Google has been working to make its Messaging app properly display emoji reactions sent by iPhone users. Now Google is making the feature available to all as part of a host of new and updated features for its Messages app that are rolling out over the coming weeks.The beta already gave us a pretty good idea of how Google Messages translates emoji reactions sent by iOS users, properly formatting them on Android instead of appearing as a confusing text message that arrived separately.Despite Google’s capitulation, it still says it wants “Apple to join the rest of the mobile industry and adopt RCS” for a better long-term solution. Image: Google The Google Photos sharing link and emoji... Continue reading…

Image: Google Google Photos’ portrait blur feature on Android will soon be able to blur backgrounds in a wider range of photos, including pictures of pets, food, and — my personal favorite — plants. It’s one of a host of updates coming to Google’s apps and services on Android, which also includes tweaks to Google TV, a new screen time widget, and wider deployment of a Gboard feature that helps improve your grammar.Google Photos has previously been able to blur the background in photos of people. But with this update, Pixel owners and Google One subscribers will be able to use it on more subjects. Portrait blur can also be applied to existing photos as a post-processing effect. Image: Google The grammar checker in action. T... Continue reading…

Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge, Shutterstock When Arend Smith first learned about the “reborn doll” community, he was an investment banker doing fantasy sculptures on the side; after teaching himself to work with Super Sculpey, oven-bake clay, and wire armatures, he quickly became hooked. Soon, his talent began to attract collectors interested in masks, statues, and garage kits. When a client asked him to make a vampire baby, Smith was drawn into a new subculture that would later influence his decision to pursue fantasy art full-time.“I came up with a character that was loosely based on … Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which is one of my favorite vampire designs ever — the bat form that [Dracula] takes in that movie,” Smith recalls of his first reborn doll. “The reborn community … was... Continue reading…

Photo by Roberto Baldwin for The Verge Other automakers should be scared of Kia — very scared Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Update 8:02AM ET, March 10th: Target has sold out of regular PlayStation 5 consoles for now, in what was one of the smallest and most fleeting restocks we’ve seen of late. However, you may have another chance soon, as the $399.99 PlayStation 5 Digital Edition is up for sale now.The frequency of new console restocks has been on the downturn but they are still trickling in. If you’re ok with paying a little more and getting a bundle you consistently have more opportunities, though the most sought-after option is a standalone console for its proper price and the most sought-after console still seems to be the PlayStation 5.Target has another round of PS5 orders opening up this morning for the standard $499.99 disc drive-equipped... Continue reading…

Microsoft has started testing tabs in File Explorer on Windows 11. Rafael Rivera, one of the developers of the EarTrumpet Windows app, has discovered the new tabs support hidden inside Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 test build. This feature appears to be one of the secret additions Microsoft has started testing in Windows 11 recently.The addition of tabs to File Explorer in Windows 11 allows for multiple folders to be open in one window. Microsoft first started testing tabs in Windows 10 apps, under a feature named Sets. This included support for tabs inside File Explorer and tabs in every Windows app, but Microsoft canceled the project and never shipped it to Windows 10 users.

It probably shouldn’t be your first pick, but it’ll work in a pinch. | Image: Apple Apple’s site says that its new 27-inch, 5K Studio Display is compatible with a wide range of Macs (and even some iPads), but the company has also told The Verge that it should also work fine when plugged into a Windows PC. There are a few caveats, of course, but if your PC is capable of outputting to it, the Studio Display should act like any normal monitor with a built-in webcam and speakers.The webcam’s Windows compatibility has been a bit in question; Apple’s website states that “Studio Display camera features and firmware updates require connection to a Mac.” While that language is unclear, Apple spokesperson Alex Bender told The Verge that the Studio Display’s built-in 12 megapixel camera should work like a normal USB webcam when... Continue reading…

During Sony’s March State of Play presentation, Square Enix debuted two new games, showed off gameplay trailers for two more, and completely ignored the two games most people were looking forward to.Ahead of its release on March 15th, Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin is getting its third and final demo. The unfathomably long-titled game (that has been shortened to an equally unwieldy SOPFFO) is an action RPG created in collaboration with Nioh developer Team Ninja. SOPFFO is a darker, bloodier re-imagining of the first Final Fantasy game from the perspective of the villain, Garland. The game’s grimdark, Chaos-obsessed protagonist and its use of Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit “My Way” has endeared SOPFFO to Final Fantasy diehards... Continue reading…

Uber Eats is getting a group order and bill splitting feature that should make it easier to ensure your friends and family members are picking up their share of the tab.Instead of passing your phone around to everyone in the group so they can place their orders, you’ll now be able to start a group order from within the Uber Eats app. To do this, you’ll have to navigate to the restaurant you want to order from, hit the three dots in the top-right corner of the page, and then hit “group order.”From there, you can invite group members by selecting from your phone’s contacts; they’ll each receive an order link over text message (and will have to download the app if they haven’t already). Your guests can then choose and pay for the food... Continue reading…

Some hard-to-find but fun-to-play classics are getting released in a brand-new bundle. At Sony’s State of Play event, Konami revealed a collection of retro Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games called The Cowabunga Collection. It brings together 13 games previously released in arcades and on consoles like the Game Boy, SNES, and Sega Genesis, including the side-scrolling beat ‘em up Turtles in Time and 2D fighter Tournament Fighters. The games have been updated with features like online play, button mapping, a rewind feature, and improved textures — you can get a look at the collection in the trailer above.The collection doesn’t have a specific release date, but it’s slated to launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, Nintendo... Continue reading…

Returnal is getting cooperative multiplayer and a new survival mode (dubbed “The Tower of Sisyphus”) in its upcoming 3.0 “Ascension” update, developer Housemarque announced at Sony’s latest State of Play livestream.The update marks the first significant addition of new content to the challenging sci-fi roguelike. A previous 2.0 update from last year focused instead of adding major quality of life additions, like the much-requested ability to suspend a run without losing your progress and a photo mode.Co-op mode is online only, with no split-screen option available, which means that you’ll need internet and a PlayStation Plus subscription to team up with a friend to try and survive the murderous mysteries of Atropos. Players also won’t... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tinder users in the US can now run background checks in-app to screen their matches for possible violent or harmful past behavior, the company said in a news release. The checks are via Tinder’s partnership with Garbo, a nonprofit that runs online background checks (via TechCrunch).The searches will return results that Garbo says are “relevant to the user’s safety” and will exclude some information such as drug possession and loitering. The searches also won’t include personally identifiable information like addresses and phone numbers. According to Tinder, each user will have access to two free background check searches; after that, they’ll pay $2.50 plus a small processing fee per transaction that will directly fund Garbo’s... Continue reading…

The Apple Watch can now track workouts on any Peloton machine. | Image: Peloton Peloton’s making it easier for Apple Watch users to close their rings. Today, the company announced a new Apple Watch integration for the original Bike, Bike Plus, and Tread.According to a Peloton blog, the Peloton watch app will notify users any time they start a class on the Bike, Bike Plus, or Tread. It’ll also work for classes started on the app. Users can also choose to proactively start recording workouts. If enabled, the Apple Watch can also double as a heart rate monitor so you can view Peloton’s Strive Score feature. The Strive Score is a metric that tells users how much time they spend in a specific heart rate zone. It’ll also make it easier to log Peloton workouts in Apple’s Activity app.The integration isn’t automatic,... Continue reading…

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge Sony Interactive Entertainment, the arm of Sony that manages its popular PlayStation console, is halting all software and hardware shipments in Russia because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.“Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine,” SIE spokesperson Joe Taraborrelli said in a statement shared with The Verge. “We have suspended all software and hardware shipments, the launch of Gran Turismo 7, and operations of the PlayStation Store in Russia.” Taraborrelli added that Sony has announced a $2 million donation to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the NGO Save the Children to support those affected by the invasion.

Illustration by Grayson Blackmon / The Verge As of Android 10, we’ve been able to choose different ways to access your multitasking pane — that handy flow of thumbnails that lets us view all our active apps, choose which one you want to use, and swipe off any you want to close — and to navigate your home screen. Until then, we mostly navigated Android screens using buttons at the bottom of the screen. Since then, we’ve been able to either swipe to navigate or opt to continue using those same buttons.If you’ve got Android 10 or 11, you can choose from three methods: gesture navigation, two-button navigation, or three-button navigation. When Android 12 came around, two-button navigation disappeared, but you can still switch between gesture and three-button navigation. Here’s how... Continue reading…

Roblox is a hugely popular game — nearly 50 million users play it every day, according to Roblox (the company) — and that’s in part because it’s free and available on many different platforms, including iOS, Android, PC, and Xbox. One very conspicuous absence from that list is PlayStation, but that could be changing sometime soon, as Roblox has posted a job listing for a “Senior Software Engineer, PlayStation Console.”“As a Gaming Console Software Engineer, you’ll help build and support our game engine used by millions of users worldwide for the Sony PlayStation platform, and other leading gaming consoles on the market,” Roblox says in the listing (emphasis Roblox’s). The listing also says one of the job’s responsibilities is to... Continue reading…

The features being tested make it obvious if alt text is available. | Image: Twitter Twitter has announced that it’s testing new accessibility features to make alt text descriptions significantly more useful and prominent for everyone on the platform. With the change, images that have descriptions will be given a badge that says “alt,” and clicking on that badge will show the description. The change has been a long time coming, but that’s not necessarily a surprise — Twitter didn’t have a dedicated accessibility team until 2020.According to Twitter, around 3 percent of users will get to try out the new features for a month, and it’ll roll out globally at the beginning of April. Until then, it seems like most people still won’t have access to alt text descriptions unless they’re using a screen reader or are willing to... Continue reading…

AMD has acknowledged a stuttering issue on Ryzen systems caused by its firmware trusted platform module (fTPM), as reported by TechPowerUp (via Windows Central). A permanent fix, which will come as a BIOS update, isn’t expected until May.A form of TPM 2.0 is required to run Windows 11 (although some users have still found a way around this requirement). It’s used to generate a cryptographic key to boot your device, helping protect it from hackers who might try to tamper with the sensitive information stored on your computer. While fTPM is embedded in your system’s firmware, a dTPM, or discrete trusted platform module, is a physical chip installed on your motherboard that serves the same function.AMD’s workaround is switching to... Continue reading…

Paramount has debuted the first trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the latest Star Trek series that’s centered on the USS Enterprise (the first time that a show has returned full-time to the iconic ship since Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005.Strange New Worlds is technically both a spinoff and a prequel, picking up with the crew of the USS Enterprise after their appearance in Star Trek: Discovery’s second season, making it also a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series (given that the show is set about a decade before Kirk takes over as captain).As such, the crew of the Enterprise is a mix of familiar and new names for fans. The ship is helmed by Captain Pike (Anson Mount), with Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley, his first... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed criticism over the company’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill today, saying he called the state’s governor to express “concern” with the bill and pledged millions to charity in response to its passing. Chapek said that the company’s initial response, “no matter how well-intended, didn’t quite get the job done, but we’re committed to support the community going forward.”Disney recently came under fire for its refusal to openly condemn the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — which bans primary school teachers from “discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” — despite operating a booming business empire in the state. In an internal memo to staff sent Monday, Chapek had written that “corporate... Continue reading…

Screenshot by Nick Statt / The Verge When I rejoined The Verge in 2018, my first big assignment looked like an absolute peach — fly to the gorgeous Hawaiian island of Maui, sip cool drinks on the sand (The Verge paid for my trip; we don’t accept junkets), and become one of the first journalists to experience blazing 5G speeds at a Qualcomm event. Instead, I found myself exposing a lie. The first real-world 5G test turned out to be a dud, the speeds misleading at best, covering up the fact Verizon and AT&T’s millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G wasn’t ready.For the next three years, Verizon and AT&T successfully employed a fake-it-till-you-make-it strategy, enlisting politicians to help them “win” 5G as if it were some kind of “race.” Their fastest 5G networks ran on a chunk of... Continue reading…

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features are safe, the company insists in a letter to two top Senate Democrats. Like, really safe. Safer than human driving. Unfortunately, the senators aren’t really buying it.“Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD Capability features enhance the ability of our cusotmes [sic] to drive safer than the average driver in the U.S.,” Rohan Patel, senior director of public policy at Tesla, writes in a March 4th letter to US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA). (The letter was first reported by Reuters.)Tesla is responding to the senators’ letter to the company’s CEO Elon Musk last month raising “significant concerns” about Autopilot and FSD. Blumenthal and Markey have also called on federal... Continue reading…